Vickie Schmall of Bayard landed her first nursing job in 1976, and she stayed in nursing for the next 45 years, including stints at Regional West in Scottsbluff and Chimney Rock Villa in Bayard. She retired from nursing on July 2, and now as she reflects on her nursing career, she said it was the most rewarding and enjoyable career she could have picked, for she loved helping as many people as she could.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
BAYARD – For much of Vickie Schmall’s life growing up, she wanted to be a school teacher. She got the itch to do that after “playing school” with her brother, Jim Pullen, who’s five years younger than she is.
“I’m glad he put up with me,” Schmall said with a laugh. “We played school all the time. It was fun. I had him prepared for school. He was a smart kindergartner.”
As she got older, though, Schmall’s interest in teaching began to fade, and she developed a new career goal while she was attending Bayard High School. She wanted to become a nurse, especially after hearing some of her older friends talk about how much they enjoyed going to nursing school.
“I had a couple friends who went to Nebraska Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Omaha, and I thought, ‘You know, I think I could do that, too,’” Schmall said. “It seemed like it would be a good career for me because I enjoyed helping people.”
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